Malachi 1 and 2 – Introduction and God’s Election of Israel

1:1What follows is divine revelation. The word of the Lord came to Israel through Malachi:

1:2“I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob 1:3and rejected Esau. I turned Esau’s mountains into a deserted wasteland and gave his territory to the wild jackals.”

1:4Edom says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased. 1:5Your eyes will see it, and then you will say, ‘May the Lord be magnified even beyond the border of Israel!’”

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service

1:6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’ 1:7You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table of the Lord as if it is of no importance! 1:8For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lordwho rules over all. 1:9But now plead for God’s favor that he might be gracious to us. “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lordwho rules over all.

1:10“I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lordwho rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you. 1:11For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lordwho rules over all. 1:12“But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings despicable. 1:13You also say, ‘How tiresome it is.’ You turn up your nose at it,” says the Lordwho rules over all, “and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?” asks the Lord. 1:14“There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lordwho rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

The Sacrilege of the Priestly Message

2:1“Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 2:2If you do not listen and take seriously the need to honor my name,” says the Lordwho rules over all, “I will send judgment on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart. 2:3I am about to discipline your children and will spread offal

on your faces, the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it. 2:4Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lordwho rules over all. 2:5“My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me. 2:6He taught what was true; sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin. 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lordwho rules over all. 2:8You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” says the Lordwho rules over all. 2:9“Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your instruction.”

The Rebellion of the People

2:10Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors? 2:11Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and

has turned to a foreign god! 2:12May the Lord cut off from the community of Jacob every last person who does this, as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lordwho rules over all!

2:13You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. 2:14Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 2:15No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.

2:16“I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lordwho rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

2:17You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”